The situation of the aged people in Benin

Fortuné Sossa, National Institute of the Statistical and the Economic Analysis, Bénin

The result of the censuses carried out until there indicates that the 60 years aged people and more are far from numerous and that their contribution to the total population decreases with time. Thus, in 1979, one counted 7,2% aged people. This proportion was 6% in 1992, that is to say an intercensal rate of increase in 1,6%. The census of 2002 fixes the aged people at 5,5% with an intercensal rate of increase in 2,4%. This progressive fall of the proportions would translate the effect of the overmortality at the advanced ages compared to the youths. The rough rate of activity accounts for 63,6% of the total of the aged people. The busy aged people are in the informal sector: 98,3% against 1,7% in the formal sector. Between 1992 and 2002, the economic report of dependence of the aged people passed from 14,15% to 13,22%. In the whole of the listed households, approximately 25% comprise aged people.